Toyota is nothing if not persistent, occasionally missing the mark, only to come back with a new model that’s closer to target – and that’s what the Japanese giant is aiming to do with the Prius Prime making its debut at the 2016 New York International Auto Show.

The Prime takes the place of Toyota’s original, largely ignored plug-in hybrid, roughly doubling its range and, the maker hopes, doubling the earlier model’s sales. It should help that the 2017 model will come in at a lower price point, even while offering more content including an array of advanced safety features.

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“Our goal is to have it be a great value,” brand boss Bill Fay told TheDetroitBureau.com following the public unveiling of the 2017 Toyota Prius Prime at New York’s Jacob Javits Center.

Toyota will reveal a battery-powered version of the RAV4 at the upcoming L.A. Auto Show.

Look for Toyota to pull the wraps off a new battery-driven version of the RAV4 at the upcoming Los Angeles Motor Show. It will be the first product of a new joint venture between the Japanese maker and the California start-up Tesla Motors.

Meanwhile, the company has also announced that it will begin delivering a plug-in version of the Prius hybrid to North American showrooms by May or June of 2012. That comes about 18 months later than the company had initially indicated.

That delayed debut will come at about the same time Toyota will launch six new global hybrid vehicles, all of which will reach market by the end of 2012, according to Executive Vice President Takeshi Uchiyamada.

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The alliance between Toyota and Tesla has generated plenty of industry discussion and debate since it was first announced last June. Initially, the Japanese giant said it would be willing to invest $50 million in the California firm’s IPO, which later proved unexpectedly successful. Toyota also announced it would turn over the abandoned NUMMI plant, in Fremont, California, to Tesla to use to produce the smaller maker’s planned Model S battery sedan.

Mahindra & Mahindra’s takeover of the REVA Electric Vehicle Company of Bangalore, India has prompted General Motors Corp. to withdraw from a GM India joint development project.

“GM India and Reva Electric Car Company have decided to discontinue the joint development of electric vehicle technologies for the India market. We expect to apply the learnings from this collaboration to future product development activities to meet the varied needs of customers around the world,” GM said in a statement.

The GM-REVA partnership was set up last year and aimed at developing a low-cost electric vehicle for the emerging Indian market. That plan was scuttled when Mahindra announced it would acquire the small battery car company, last week. (Click Here for more on the Mahindra-REVA deal.)

However, Mahindra’s acquisition of REVA and GM’s reaction underscore the importance carmakers around the world are putting on EV technology.

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Mahindra REVA expects to use Mahindra’s vehicle development expertise, opening the door for REVA technology to be used in Mahnindra-designed vehicles, said the larger Indian maker, which has itsel delayed a long-anticipated entry into the U.S. market as it finalizes work on a pair of light truck offerings.